


Colors of the Forest

by SuggestiveScribe



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fantasy AU, M/M, and a curious Hajime, but dang I love the piece that inspired this so it got kinda long, forest god, this started out as a very simple writing exercise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-08
Updated: 2016-02-08
Packaged: 2018-05-19 05:40:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5955730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuggestiveScribe/pseuds/SuggestiveScribe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It smelled like something that came from the sky, or maybe the very center of the earth. It was a perfume that swirled in Hajime's chest and made his mind feel light in his skull. When he came home, boots brown and crudy from playing among the trees, he asked his mother about it. </p><p>She turned to look down at him, lips parting. "When you smell that," she said, sinking to her knees, "come home, okay?"</p><p>Hajime wrung his hands in front of him, "Okay."<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	Colors of the Forest

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Mars' amazing piece [right here](http://yaboykeiji.tumblr.com/post/135235754104/you-must-never-venture-there). Thank you to them for allowing me to post this, and also for the beautiful piece itself.

The forest smelled musky. It was a heady mixture of overturned dirt and bark and pine needles, but there was something else to it that Hajime couldn't put his finger on. It smelled like something that came from the sky, or maybe the very center of the earth. It was a perfume that swirled in his chest and made his mind feel light in his skull. When he came home, boots brown and crudy from playing among the trees, he asked his mother about it.

She turned to look down at him, lips parting. "When you smell that," she said, sinking to her knees, "come home, okay?"

Hajime wrung his hands in front of him, "Okay."

-

The beetles filed forward in a straight line. Hajime watched them and wondered. Did the order come naturally to them? Did they prefer walking in straight lines? It seemed rather dull, but perhaps they kept each other safe this way. Hajime could understand that; he understood wanting to protect one's family.

There was a rustling in the distance that drew his attention. His head tipped to the side, eyes blinking through the columns of trees. The sun struggled to shine today, and the mist it usually burned away lingered on the forest floor.

Leaves shivered, and in a blink there were deer bounding between the trees, undergrowth spraying beneath the deft hopping of their hooves. The fog twirled around their limbs, curling before breaking loose as they launched forward in a pointed rush toward the edge of the forest.

Hajime watched them go, eyes sliding with their movements as he remained motionless in his crouch. He remained still even after they'd gone, sitting on his heels with the beetles still marching forward. They were none the wiser.

He bit on his lip, just barely shifting forward to pick up a branch. That's when the scent hit his nose. Hajime froze, that wondrous smell seeping into him and seizing his thoughts. It lit his veins with awe and adventure. It felt so foreign, so beautiful. It felt like _magic_.

Hajime hunched his shoulders and peered through the trees. What had the deer been running from? The further his gaze searched the darker the trees became. Details dissolved beneath mist and shadows, melting into a gray abyss.

He found himself leaning forward without thinking, fingertips pressing into the dirt to keep him steady. There was the slightest shiver of branches, a flutter of movement Hajime wasn't even sure was real. It came from a dense corner of blackness, where the forest had knit together into an indecipherable mass of branches.  

There was movement again, a small twitch. It looked like a single branch was shifting down low, almost beneath the roiling curls of mist. Perhaps it was a bunny, or a squirrel. Maybe a family of raccoons had found themselves a hollowed out tree. Hajime's palm pressed into the dirt, his slow crawl forward entirely unconscious. Leaves trembled, and the same single branch bobbed in place. Hajime watched it, eyes riveted, and his second hand came down to support him. A twig snapped beneath his weight, and the gasp of Hajime's surprise was louder than the noise itself. The rustling in the forest halted, and then the branch jerked in place, popping upward and sitting atop the blink of a single glowing eye.

Hajime fell backward, heart leaping into his throat, and when the eye blinked the shadow shot out of sight, replacing its presence with the hurried sounds of feet over leaves.

Hajime stumbled to his feet and ran, steps moving as quickly as his legs could carry him over the damp underbrush. He thought he could hear footsteps, the sounds of another pursuing him, but he didn't look back. He pumped his arms, lungs stinging with the sudden huffing of morning air, and didn't stop running until he had long-since breached the forest walls.

-

That night Hajime peered into the fire, watching the flames dance within their confinement.

"Momma wouldn't tell me about the perfume," he said in a low voice, hugging his knees close to his chest.

His grandmother smiled beside him, the back-and-forth tipping of her rocking chair as steady as Hajime's pulse.

"Have you heard the legend of the druids, Hajime?" she asked, her voice weathered and delicate just like the fingers stitching the seam of his trousers. Her mouth was tilted upward, something just on the edge of amused.

Hajime's eyes flickered up to her without moving his face. "Druids?" he repeated.

Her hand dragged the needle upward, thread sliding through cloth and cinching the fabric closer together. "It's a legend that's faded as their numbers have dwindled, but it's not something to be forgotten." Hajime watched her, the firelight illuminating her face and making it easy to see her carefree expression grow more serious. "That child you saw..." her voice trailed off, and she set the needle and fabric down across her lap, leaning forward to make eye contact with him. Her voice dropped low, low enough that he had to lean forward as well in an effort to hear her.

She whispered, "They are the god of this forest, Hajime." He stiffened, and she spoke again, breath barely gusting into his ear. The next words made him go pale.

Hajime fought off the thoughts. They gave him nightmares.

-

The beetles still strode on in straight lines.

Hajime could count on the beetles to tick forward just like time. He poked at one with a stick and it wobbled a bit, and then marched on as if uninterrupted. How brave.

A scream pierced the air and Hajime started, almost falling over in surprise. The sound ricocheted off trees and echoed back and forth with every new bleat. It sounded like the desperate cry of a small child, but Hajime knew the sound.

He rose to his feet, brushing off his trousers as he followed the cries. They were strong, loud in volume and determined in force. It took longer to locate it than Hajime would have liked to admit; the nature of the echo made the noise surround him, pulsing through the forest in constant reverberation. Eventually he found his way to it, crouching back down in front of a bush full of thorns.

Tucked in the center of the bush was a wailing bunny, its fur already matted in a couple places with crimson, its body shaking in fear.

"How did you even get in here?" Hajime asked the creature, positioning himself firmly on the dirt. He looked down at his arms and hands, ungloved and uncovered. The thorns of the bush would sting as they cut, and his shirt might wind up worse for wear, but Hajime dismissed the thoughts with a shrug.

"You have to stay still," he warned the still-screaming rabbit with a serious look. Its beady eyes did nothing to illustrate understanding.

He sighed, mumbled a soft, "Here we go", and begun gently pushing aside winding tendrils of thorns. The points bit into the flesh of his hands and scraped the arm he sunk into the tangle of branches. The bunny chirped, a scared sound, and Hajime found himself lurching forward into the bush in an effort to capture it with his hand. Thorns caught against his cheek and on the shoulder of his tunic, but he simply grit his teeth and delved deeper.

Finally he made contact, palm closing quick around soft fur. He made sure not to grasp too tightly, but the scream of the injured bunny would tell anyone else otherwise.

"Just hang on," he bristled irritably, withdrawing his hand from the bush. The bunny would stay momentarily still and then struggle, and Hajime was careful not to loosen or tighten his grip until his hand was gently opening up to the forest floor.

The bunny hopped away with impressive speed, silently zigzagging into the cover of roots and leaves. He gave another sigh, this one larger, and allowed his shoulders to sag. He closed his eyes with the breath, reveling in the silence.

"That sure was nice of you."

Hajime's eyes flew open, hands and feet scurrying backward as his heart beat double-time in his chest.  Across from him crouched a boy, eyes and smile bright. His arms were draped over his knees, fingers wiggling as if sparked with mischief. However, Hajime's eyes were widening where he sat, stunned, because there were antlers poking through the boy's hair and a thick tail waving beside him with listless energy.

" _Druid_ ," Hajime breathed.

"I'm usually the only one to help the creatures of this forest," the boy said, having not heard Hajime or deciding to ignore him completely. His smile widened and his tail wagged a bit unconsciously, "But I've seen you playing here a lot recently."

Hajime swallowed, head tipping to the side as he gazed more fully at the antlers arcing gently away from the boy's head. On their interior were ears, pointed ones almost like that of a fox. But...

Hajime's eyes slid down the side of the boy's face. He had human ears, too.

"I hear really well," the boy said, beaming smile unchanged. The foxy ears atop his head twitched.

The boy wasn't clothed like normal humans; leaves adorned his shoulders and tendrils of tiny vines crawled across his collar bones and around his neck. He had linen cinched around his waist that draped downward, allowing his tail to swish about freely. Those same vines twirled up his legs, curling protectively around his bare feet all the way up to his thighs.

"What's your name?" the boy asked. He didn't seem to mind the gape of Hajime's mouth, or the observational sweep of his gaze.

"Hajime," he answered without thinking. The word was dry on his tongue, and that's when Hajime finally realized his mouth had been hanging open. He pinched it closed.

"I'm Tooru," the boy introduced. Hajime watched the waggle of Tooru's fingers above the forest floor. Suddenly a small sprout breached the soil, twirling upward to coil around his finger.

Hajime lifted his gaze to Tooru's face. Tooru grinned, cheeks lifting high enough to pinch the corner of his eyes.

This couldn't be the child his grandmother had told him about.

His tail flicked beside him. The thick fur was red until it reached the tip, where it then faded into the purest of white. 

Hajime bit down on his lip, then made eye contact once more. "I like your tail," he tried, voice nervous. He looked back down at it, "The fur is pretty..."

Tooru's smile widened, entire face glowing, "Thanks!" It undulated beside him a bit more vigorously. There was a beat of silence.

Hajime slowly lifted his hand, "Can I..."

The chuckle that tumbled from Tooru's throat was one part smug and one part bashful. Hajime wasn't sure how those two things could blend together, but they did in Tooru's voice regardless of rhyme or reason. He lifted his tail, waving the tip directly in front of Hajime's nose.

Hajime touched at the fur, carefully as if he'd somehow startle the boy it was attached to. It was softer than it looked, and somehow remarkably clean. Actually, all of Tooru was clean. Tufts of fur slid around his fingers and brushed against his palm weightlessly, like Hajime imagined a cloud would feel. He pulled his hand away, and the tail dropped back down to where it mindlessly flicked beside Tooru.

"I saw you playing with beetles," he spoke up. When the light caught his irises, the soft brown flashed green. It was as if his eyes held all the colors of the forest. When Tooru lifted his hand the sprout came up with it, crawling up his finger before curling around his wrist. "Do you wanna play?" he asked, fist clenching and unclenching.

This _definitely_ couldn't be the child Hajime's grandmother had warned him about.

Hajime's smile betrayed his intentions even before he answered, "Yeah!"

Hajime never noticed the perfume wafting off of Tooru's skin, or the way it made everything around him seem to sparkle.

Tooru hopped into a standing position, and when he moved it was like dancing. The vines wrapped around his feet somehow never touched the ground, as if he moved weightlessly on heels and toes.

"There are these bushes, further in the forest," he explained hurriedly, holding out his hand as an offering to bring Hajime to his feet. "Where all these orange and black butterflies sit together."

Hajime didn't even have time to coo before Tooru was squeezing his hand, tugging him forward, "I'll show you."

In this spattering of light, his eyes warmed into gold.

 _All the colors of the forest_.

"I'm excited," Tooru said, almost skipping forward over hidden roots and fallen branches. Hajime followed him clumsily, watching his feet stumble over things Tooru's feet seemed to have committed to memory.

His grandmother's whispers filled Hajime's ears, " _They are the god of this forest, Hajime_."

Tooru threw a glance over his shoulder, smiling.

Her breath gusting over Hajime's ears, " _They will--_ "

"I'm so glad to not be alone," Tooru told him.

" _\-- eat--_ "

Tooru blinked,

" _\-- your--_ "

his irises burned red.

" _\-- heart._ "

 

 

 

 

 

 

_______________________________________

 

 

 

 

*BANGS ON POTS AND PANS*

[This idea wasn't mine, it was inspired by Mars' wonderful piece. Please give them some love](http://yaboykeiji.tumblr.com/post/135235754104/you-must-never-venture-there).

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> http://suggestivescribe.tumblr.com/


End file.
